


Keeper Of Justice

by syrenpan



Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age II
Genre: Fenders, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-09
Updated: 2011-12-09
Packaged: 2017-10-27 03:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/290980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syrenpan/pseuds/syrenpan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a free man, Fenris has decided that his new purpose in life is to make sure that at least one mage in Thedas will atone for his crimes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeper Of Justice

**Author's Note:**

> Dragon Age (c) Bioware. No copyright infringement intended.

Hawke let him live.

I was there when the debris of the Kirkwall Chantry rained on us like an old sky god's wrath. Back then the mage wanted to die, I dare say he hoped to die and – looking back on it now I cannot even fathom why – but had it been my call, I would have granted him his wish.

But not Hawke.

Ruthless, self-centred Hawke decided death was too good a fate for him and told him to run while we all got ready to help the Templars carry out the Right of Annulment.

But he didn't run.

Stubborn Anderfels nug-head!

He challenged us on the steps of the Templar's hall and it took our combined strength to defeat him. I remember thinking that it was reminiscent of that time beneath the Vimmark Mountains when the voices in his head had overpowered him and we had to strike him down. It was a close call then, too.

We left him for dead on the marble without looking back but just like that other time, he came back. I suspect it was the demon that lend him power beyond any mortal's grasp, even beyond a common mage's skill, and Anders is many things but “common” is not a word I would use to describe him.

I would later find out that like the wounded beast he accused me of being so many times during our acquaintance, he stole out of the burning city, slinking into the wilderness, while we were still fighting Meredith in the courtyard.

After the Circle was destroyed, the Knight-Commander slain and Hawke surely to be elected to sit in the Viscount's seat, there was nothing left for me in Kirkwall, so I too left the place that had never become home that very night.

*~*

It was the twilight hours on my third day of wandering when I chanced upon a small camp fire, easy to miss if you weren't in the right spot. Feeling weary and cold, I carefully approached.

He smiled at me.

Of all the things that could have happened, but that's what he did when he spotted me. He smiled and gestured for me to join him. Like we were just out on another crazy adventure following Hawke as we had done so many, many times in the past years.

I do not know what surprised me more the fact that this is what happened or the fact that I followed his suggestion and simply sat on the other side of the fire.

'You are not afraid I am here to kill you,' I said, not asked, because it was a simple fact, but of course Anders being Anders he answered me anyway.

'I would be dead now if that was what you were after,' he replied with a smirk before all mirth drained out of him and he added, 'besides you were never one to do me any favours.'

We just looked at each other over the flames and the longer the moment stretched, the more tense he became. I could see the muscles in his jaw clenching but he held my gaze, unblinking, until I asked, 'Do you truly wish to die?'

He looked away then. 'Some things are worse than death.'

For as long as I had known him the mage had always been on the run: from the Circle, from the Wardens, from Templars. I suspected the only thing he had ever followed through was on behest of the demon he had nurtured with his hatred for a system that attempted to solve an unsolvable conundrum, and inevitably, it culminated in the slaughter of many.

It was obvious that begging for his death was just another attempt to run, from himself this time.

But, if there was one thing I had learned in the past nine years it was that running from your hate did not solve anything, for no-one.

'I agree,' I said.

Naturally, Anders misinterpreted my statement and a look of relief crossed over his tired features. Oh, how little did he know!

'Some things are worth than death and you deserve them all,' I growled and watched all the blood drain from his face as I got up and calmly circled the fire to stand in front of him. Some sense of self-preservation, rooted in instincts older than him or I, made him flinch backwards causing him to lose his balance and land on his ass in the dirt.

'You will live, mage, I will see to it personally that you will live, so you can see the chaos and pain that your mage revolution will bring to Thedas. You will live and spend the remainder of your days atoning for your crimes. I swear I will see the Maker return before I let you die by any other than my own hand. For as long as I am alive, I will see you pay!'

I anticipated an attack to force me into killing him on the spot. At the very least I expected him to protest violently.

What actually happened was almost the exact opposite: his chin sacked, making him look as if he was frozen in a silent scream and then he went completely still. Except for his eyes.

The hypnotic blue swirl, a tell-tale sign of the demon's presence, stared back at me out of the familiar human face. My skin crawled, the lyrium reacting to the proximity of the Fade creature as it always did.

His eyes began to flicker in rapid succession, switching between the natural mortal colour and the eerie blue as if demon and human were battling for dominance over the body they shared until finally the mage's body sacked as if he had been released from a tight grip. His head bowed, arms hanging useless on either side on the dirty ground.

When Anders raised his head it was the human who spoke to me in a voice laced with pain and weariness but the words were clear and their meaning unmistakeably, and it was not what I had expected.

'Your terms are... just. I am yours.'

And so, the slave who had spent most of his life chained to a Magister's hand volunteered to become another mage's keeper.


End file.
